Psalm 23

I'd like you to turn with me please to Psalm 23. Psalm 23, we're going to read the whole Psalm. Psalm 23 is Psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now we know that God always blesses the reading of his precious word. Now I'm sure most will know that quite often we when you read the Psalms we have them in groups and often in groups of three.

And in Psalm 22 of course we see the shepherd. We see the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd who giveth his life for the sheep.

And we read those beautiful words uttered by the Lord Jesus on the cross. And we love to meditate upon Psalm 22. And then when we go to Psalm 24 we have a little picture of the Lord as a chief shepherd.

And we read in 1st Peter chapter 5 that the Lord is returning as a chief shepherd and he's going to reward all the under shepherds. And then in the Psalm that we have read together we have the Lord Jesus as the Great Shepherd. And you will remember of course that we read of the Good Shepherd in John chapter 10.

I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And we have the love of the Lord Jesus as a shepherd.

And each one of us are the sheep of his pasture. And then when we think of the chief shepherd and we think of a crown. I think of the cross the Good Shepherd that gave his life for the sheep.

When we think of the chief shepherd coming back we think of the crown and the reward that will be for the under shepherds. When we look at Psalm 23 and liken that to the Great Shepherd our minds immediately should go to Hebrews chapter 13. And there it's got to do with a covenant.

An eternal covenant. You ask me when it was made. I can't tell you.

It's eternal. It always was. May not understand it but yet willing just to take it in.

And it says who brought again from the dead a great shepherd of the sheep according to the eternal covenant. When we read in the book of Hebrews we usually look at contrasts and comparisons. And of the Lord Jesus is brought before us as a great shepherd.

There must have been another shepherd that the writer had in his mind. And personally I think that the shepherd that he had on his mind was Moses. Moses was a shepherd.

Not only a shepherd on the backside of the desert but God was training him to shepherd his people. And you read in Psalm 77 that God led his people through the wilderness as a by the hand of Moses and Aaron. As a shepherd by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Now Moses was a quite a shepherd. He brought God's people out of Egypt. He brought them out of the place of bondage.

He brought them out of slavery. And that's what the Lord did for us. But Moses could not take them into the inheritance.

He could only go so far and then it took a Joshua. So while Moses was a shepherd the Lord Jesus is a great shepherd. And he's great because he not only brought us and bought us out of the slave market of sin but as well as that he's going to bring us safely home.

That's something we can depend upon. We believe in eternal security and the one that brought us and bought us out of the slave market of sin out of this world is the one who's going to take us safely home. Now we read of the Lord Jesus in the Gospels and we love to look at him from four different viewpoints and there's many little names we could put on the on the Gospels but sufficient this morning I want you to think first of all of the Gospel of Matthew.

And in the Gospel of Matthew the Lord Jesus is brought before us as the teacher. He's a great teacher. And you know in that Gospel the Lord Jesus he teaches the precepts of the kingdom.

We call it usually the Sermon on the Mount. And then when we go to chapter 13 the Lord Jesus he teaches the the parables of the kingdom. And when we come to Matthew 24 and 25 the Lord speaks of the the prophecies concerning the kingdom.

So the Lord Jesus is the great teacher. And he's such a wonderful person. He not only teaches by word of mouth but he teaches by example.

And in Matthew chapter 11 he said look unto me and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. So he teaches by example. Follow his example.

Learn from his life. And then when we come to the end of the Gospel of Matthew what does the Lord do? He sends the disciples out. What for? He sends them out to teach.

He said you make disciples, you mark them by baptizing them, and you mold them according to the words that I have given you. Now the Gospel of Mark we have the same wonderful person but you know there he's seen as the servant or the evangelist. And you have the Lord in his busy life and you have those terms immediately forthwith and straightway.

The busy life of the evangelist. And when we come to the end that servant evangelist he sends the disciples out. What to do? He sends them out to preach the gospel.

And he's going to be with them as he would send them into the world with the gospel of the grace of God. Now you know in the gospel of Luke you have the perfect man. And of course the Lord had to be a perfect man to be a priest.

The Lord had to be like us, to be our priest, to represent us as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. He in like manner took part of the same. He had to be unlike us to be our advocate.

Of any man's sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous one. But he had to be like us and we see then the Lord Jesus as the priest. And you know the gospel of Luke it begins with the priest.

A priest called Zechariah. A priest that could not speak. He could go to the altar of incense but he couldn't come out and bless the people because he was struck speechless because of unbelief.

And then when we come to the central part of the gospel we find a priest that had no compassion. You remember on the way down from Jerusalem to Jericho the priest passed by on the other side. A priest was a person that was to have compassion.

Hebrews 5 says he's taken from amongst men that he would be able to have compassion on men. And then we have in chapter 23 of Luke we have the priests and they're calling for the death of the Lord Jesus. They were supposed to make intercession for transgressors but instead of that they're crying out for the blood of the Lord Jesus.

But we love to point out that at the end of Luke's gospel we have the Lord Jesus as a perfect priest. And what's he doing? Well you remember there are two on the way to Emmaus and the Lord draws near. They're despondent.

They're discouraged. They said we had trusted that it was he that should redeem Israel. And besides all this this is the third day since these things happened.

And they asked him they said are you the only stranger in Jerusalem and you don't know what has taken place. And I would submit to you that really the Lord Jesus was the only one that really knew what had taken place. He was a one that had borne the wrath and the judgment of God and yet in grace he draws near to the two on the way to Emmaus.

Not to abrade them. The Lord's a wonderful person. When John the Baptist sent to him to say art thou he that should come or should we look for another.

He didn't say anything about John the Baptist but praise. He said there never was a greater prophet than John the Baptist. And you go back and tell him that you've seen the miracles and so on.

It wasn't that John was doubting the person of the Lord Jesus. He saw the Spirit descend upon him like a dove. But he was doubting the program I think of the Lord Jesus.

He thought if I'm here in prison well how is it the Messiah has come and he came to release the captive and so on. So he wondered about that. But here the Lord he didn't abrade him.

He drew near to them. And what was the end result? Well he showed from the Scriptures the fact that he had to suffer. That's what he was proving from Moses and the prophets.

Likely he'd go through the offerings. The Levitical offerings and the Passover and then in the prophets he would go into Isaiah 53 and he would tell them the wonderful things concerning himself. And then they said surely our heart burned within us.

And I would submit to you that the thought may be there at least the way I look at it is it's the burning of the lamps. And the priest was there to trim the lamps. And that's what the Lord Jesus is doing.

You and I might have extinguished a lamp altogether. But the Lord didn't do that. The Lord is tender and compassionate.

And even when we seem to be in doubts and wondering about things and maybe despondent he doesn't abrade us for unbelief but he draws near to us and encourages us as we travel by the way. And he loves to walk with his own. But I must I don't want to get off the subject of Psalm 23.

But you know when it comes to the end those are all priestly things that the Lord is doing. And he expects us to follow on when he's gone. We're still part of that priesthood.

So he said tarry ye here at Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. And the word undue it could be just as easily said clothed. You'll be clothed with power from on high.

And I have thought well maybe that's priestly garments that the Lord has given us. So that we can be an encouragement to others as we go on the road homeward. But the Lord Jesus he not only went to the altar and not just the golden altar the altar of incense but he went to the the brazen altar went to Calvary suffered and bled and died.

And then what does he do? He blesses the people. He's taken up into heaven carried up into heaven and he's blessing the people. Zechariah couldn't do that but the Lord goes up into heaven and he's blessing his own.

Now in the Gospel of John I'll suggest to you this that that's the Gospel of the Shepherd. And that maybe would be fairly obvious from John chapter 10. We've quoted it I am the good shepherd the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

So if we want to look at the Lord as a shepherd we would go to the Gospel of John. And in the first part of the gospel after the first couple of chapters it would be more of an introduction. We have the shepherd going out after the lost sheep.

Nicodemus the woman at the well, the nobleman's son, the man at the edge of the the pool, the woman taken in adultery, the man that was born blind. And the Lord was out after the lost sheep individually. And then what does he do? He brings him into his flock.

And when we come to John 10 he says other sheep have I that are not of this fold them also shall I bring and there shall be one flock is the word one flock and one shepherd. And it's often pointed out that a sheepfold is a perimeter without a center. And when the Lord was speaking about the fold not other sheep of this fold he was thinking of the the nation of Israel.

And they were under the confines of the law. But he's bringing them out from under the law. He's dealing with them in grace.

And his other sheep that's you and that's me. And the Lord Jesus sought you out and he sought me out by the Spirit of God. And we should appreciate the compassion and the love of the Lord Jesus as he searched out after the lost sheep.

Just like those that we read off was spoken about in John chapter and those early chapters. So you and I just think of us. We look around us here in a meeting like this.

We're all quite different I would say. And we all come from different stations in life. And some of us even from different countries.

But we all have this in common. The Lord Jesus sought us and he found us. That hymn that we sung last night always touches my heart.

And as I pass the Savior by his love laid hold on me. So when we read then in Psalm 23 we're going to look at the Shepherd. There's different ways we can look at the psalm.

We can look at it in the life of David. And that's a that's a good study. To see David's own experiences.

We're not told when he wrote it. I think maybe he wrote it toward the end of his life. But he covers his whole life in it.

And he said the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want. Wonderful thing to be able to say that. You go to funerals often and they read the 23rd Psalm.

And they read it and they apply it to everyone. Unbelievers and everyone else alike. But you know we can truly say the Lord is my Shepherd.

Do we understand that there's one who leads us. There's one that we follow. He doesn't drive the sheep.

But he's our Shepherd. Gave his life for the sheep. And it's a wonderful thing to realize that we are the sheep of his pasture.

So we can say the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want. I won't I don't need anything else. All I need is a Shepherd.

And the Shepherd is going to provide for me. The sheep don't have that responsibility. It's the Lord that keeps them.

And he keeps them together. And he tends for them. He cares for them.

And that's why we say the Lord is my Shepherd. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. And we read in John chapter 10 he said they shall go in and out and find pasture.

And in the feeding of the 5,000. One of the miracles that's in all the Gospels. The other one maybe would be the crucifixion.

I think that was a miracle. That one would give his life. Death had no claim upon him.

Sometimes we think well the resurrection's a miracle. But yet death couldn't hold him. That was something that had to take place.

But the Lord Jesus you see his care for the sheep. In the Gospel of John when he speaks of the the grass he said the place where he brought them he said there was much grass in the place. So he made the man sit down and number about 5,000.

You have the Shepherd bringing him into a place where there's great where there's lots of pasture. The Gospel of Mark gives it a little different. He tells us something that the other Gospels don't tell us.

He said the grass was green. And you have the servant taking care of the sheep that they would lie down and in comfort. And no doubt there would be chewing the cud ruminating and for us we have such great pasture.

I'm glad that I'm part of a of an assembly. And I'm glad that I can come to a conference where we're not told what to preach. There are no subjects that are picked.

The Spirit of God would lead. He knows the need and and we would want to be able to speak to meet the need of God's people. And whenever we minister the Word it should have that in view to feed God's people.

We need food. We're not going to make any progress unless we obtain food. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't read your Bible and study at home.

Certainly we should do that. But we need to be able to give something out to feed God's people. And the shepherd loves the sheep.

He loveth the sheep and and and he gives his life for them. And and and those who minister the Word of God, why are we doing it? Because we love the sheep. And the Lord loved the sheep and there's a the result is he provided for them and for their comfort and so on.

And then it says he leadeth me beside the still waters or the waters of peace, the waters of of rest and and he restoreth my soul. Maybe put those two things together. And of course he's a God of restoration.

That's a wonderful thing too, isn't it? We all need restoration in some degree. And when the Lord looks upon you and he looks upon me, he wants to restore us. He wants to bring us closer to himself.

Now we would just go to John 21 and we would find the Lord and what is he doing? He's restoring Peter. And again we see his love and compassion. He's not abrading him or his unbelief.

But he says, lovest thou me. The Lord is the one that knows everything. The shepherd knows all about the sheep.

And that's one of the subjects that you have in the Gospel of John. He's the one that knows everything. They questioned his greatness and they questioned his knowledge.

And well the woman at the well she said, art thou greater than our father Jacob which gave us a well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle. And we know if far greater than than Jacob and in many ways. Jacob had control of his feet at the end of his life.

He pulled his feet up into the bed and expired. But the Lord always had control of his feet. Jacob wandered away at times but the Lord was in control far greater than Jacob and greater than Abraham.

Chapter 8 of John. Before Abraham was, he says, I am. And by implication greater than Moses.

Moses he said he gave you the manna and your father's eight of the manna and are dead. But I'm the true genuine bread which cometh down from heaven. If a person eat of me, he said, they're going to live.

But they challenged his greatness. But he saw Nathanael when he was under the fig tree. Whence knowest thou me? And the Lord saw him.

And when we come to John 13 and well he knew he knew of course about the woman at the well. Just go right through the Gospel. John 13 he knew he came from heaven was going back to heaven.

He knew that all things were delivered into his hand. He knew who it was it was going to betray him. He knew everything.

And when it come to the end, the restoration of Peter, love us thou me more than these. And what does he say? Lord thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.

Now we love the Lord as none of us would boast of his of our love. John of course in the same gospel he calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. But we love him.

And when we come to meetings like this, like a conference, it's so our hearts will be drawn out greater and a greater measure to this wonderful person. It would be more thankful for all the blessings that he has brought us into and not just for the blessings. Sometimes we're occupied only with the blessings when we should be occupied with the Lord himself.

And you remember the Lord's word to Mary in chapter 12 when she anointed him and so on. You have the the Lord said about her that she had the best part. And what she had would not be taken away from her because it was an act of worship.

And that's something we're going to worship throughout all eternity. Now worship is spontaneous. It's not something we we drum up.

It's a welling up of the heart. And if we're learning more of this wonderful person it shouldn't be too difficult to worship. Indeed our life should consist of worshipful service.

All for him he restoreth my soul. Some give it he invigorates my soul. And I thought then of John chapter 13 when the Lord washed the feet of the disciples.

We think of the disciples and their service and how faulty it was and we think of our own service. And when I read John 13 I always think of Jeremiah 13. I remember it because it's the same same chapter 13.

In Jeremiah 13 you remember Jeremiah is told to take a girdle and he took it and he hid it in a little cave a little hole in the ground over at the River Euphrates. And then he's asked to go back and take up that girdle. And what does it say? It says a girdle was marred.

Now the girdle speaks of service. They girt their loins to pull up their robes and so on when they were going to work when they were going to walk. But their service was marred.

But then the Lord Jesus and his service for us. He took a linen towel. Mr. Darby's translation gives it.

It's a priestly work. And what does he do? He washes the disciples feet. Amazing how the Lord he washed the feet of the disciples.

Took that lowly place. What a wonderful person that the Lord is. But why did he wash the disciples feet? Well I can see at least two reasons.

One is when someone washed, literally washed a person's feet, they had been on a journey. And it takes away anything that would hinder their walk. And as another, maybe another line of ministry, but you know it's a good thing to have our feet in the Lord's hands.

He had their their feet right in his hands. And he's cleansing them from any defilement they would contract. But he has wants to have our feet in his hands.

That is to guide us in our service and to guide us in our walk, in our testimony for him. But as well as that it would be an act of refreshment and invigorating. He wants to refresh his people and wash their feet.

And I often ask myself how long is it since I washed someone's feet? And I'm not talking about literally, but did I ever refresh someone? And that's something that we do because the Lord said I have left you an example. And it's something that we should do. How do we do it? Well how would they wash their feet? It would be with the laver.

We like in John 13 to the laver. And where did that water come for the laver? In the wilderness. It came from the smitten rock.

And I think that if we want to refresh one another we need to have a little word especially about the Lord himself. That's what refreshes God's people. Hearing about the Lord and then the wonders of his person, the greatness of his glory, and the work that he accomplished in the cross at Calvary.

Just a little word about the Lord. Why is I beloved, what is I beloved more than another beloved we read in the Song of Solomon? Wonder what our answer would be. And it gives a beautiful description of the Lord and his person with a head of gold and the feet of gold, no deterioration.

Not like Daniel's image where the materials became less valuable as it went down to the feet of iron and clay. But everything, his hands were gold, gold rings. Eternal, the work that he accomplished and so on.

Wonderful to read of the our blessed Lord. And why did he wash their feet? So that they would have a place near to him. You know John was leaning on his bosom.

He's the one that got the answers. If we need to get answers from our reading there's one way we can do it. I know we appreciate all the help we can get from the commentaries or from our brethren but if we were closer to the Lord I think maybe we would know a lot more.

And Peter was a like a Christian that wasn't close enough to ask the Lord. But he had a, so he says to John and he leaning on Jesus bosom. He's on his bosom and he's on his breast.

I would think the bosom is receptive love. He's bringing him right into that place of love. And the breast is his love going out.

And this is where the Lord wants you and he wants me. Two of the synoptic Gospels you read those words, Rabbi where dwellest thou? What does he say? Well that's John's Gospel but it says in the synoptic Gospels the birds have their nests and so on. But a son of man hath not where to lay his head.

But that's not what he says in John's Gospel. He says, Rabbi where dwellest thou? Come and see. Where did he, where did he live? Well in chapter 1 no man has seen God at any time.

The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father he has shown him forth. That's where the Lord was always in the bosom of the Father. Communion at all times was never broken.

Communion with the Father and please don't say the Lord was forsaken by his Father. Maybe we don't understand it but it's good to stay with scriptural terms the Lord was forsaken by God. But there was always communion with the Father.

We can't understand it but we just stay with scriptural terms and I was always told that'll keep you out of trouble and I don't want to get in trouble. So here we have the place of nearness where the Lord wants you and he wants me and it's not just for our benefit it's he doesn't want to be parted from us. He wants to be in that place of nearness.

Wouldn't it be an awful thing if we would let something come into our lives that would disrupt that communion? But may the Lord help us to enjoy it. He restores our soul. He leads us in paths of righteousness and you think of Peter later on and I don't think the Lord was being trying to be clever with Peter when Peter said Lord what shall this man do? Some people preach that like the Lord says mind your own business.

I can't see the Lord like that at all. You and I might be like that I hope we're not but but but but not the Lord. Peter had a genuine care.

The Lord said you're going to feed my sheep. Well he thought my that's a position you've given me. What's this man going to do? What is not to thee follow thou me and the Lord has left us an example that we should follow in his steps.

That's the shepherd. You have the shepherd going out after the lost sheep at the beginning of John's gospel but at the end of the shepherd going before the sheep follow thou me and later Peter wrote he has left us an example that we should follow in his steps. Well that means we want to be like him.

I'd like to become more like him. I know there's going to be a tremendous change for all of us maybe a greater one even in me than some of you when the Lord comes going to be a tremendous change but I would like the change to just be a little bit less because I'd like to becoming more and more like him following him have my eye on the Lord. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.

You know that's that's where the Lord went isn't it? David likely was thinking about the time when he went to meet the giant and I think of the Lord and always reminds me of David when I read there isn't it in Hebrews chapter 2 where he conquers the enemy and how did David conquer the enemy? Well of course it was a stone but the proof was he took Goliath's sword and he cut off his head and later on when he was looking for a weapon and he was given Goliath's sword he said there's none like it and I thought the Lord Jesus that big sword was the power of death but the Lord Jesus how did he defeat the giant? How did he defeat Satan? Well he had the Satan had the power of death I think of the big sword but what does the Lord do? He takes the sword right out of his hand. He defeats him how? By going into death. He went down into death the valley of the shadow of death in a way we're living in it now but I want to apply it to the to the shepherd.

He went down into the valley of death and he defeated the the enemy and then it speaks about his comfort. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me and I thought when the Lord was leaving John in the upper room ministry what does he do? He said I'm sending another comforter. Now I know the word is a for one that draws alongside another advocate or whatever but that's one of the things that he does and they would appreciate the comfort in the absence of the Lord they're going to be comforted.

I will not leave you orphans. It's wonderful how the Lord has such a love for us to draw near to us and to not to leave us alone but to send the Spirit of God that's our link with heaven. The woman at the well was given water in John chapter 4 but that was for satisfaction greater than anything in this world but John chapter 7 any man thirst that I'm coming to me and drink this saith he of the Spirit that was not yet given for Christ was not yet glorified that's our link with heaven we have a link with him but I must I must close I'll go right to the last verse I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever that's the end.

The shepherd he's gone as a forerunner that means there are others that are following he's gone in as the first fruit of them that sleep and all loved ones that have gone before they're all going to be in the father's house he says my father's house are many mansions for David it would be where where God was at that time maybe when he was an exile he wanted to come back to be where God was but for us the Lord says I go to prepare a place for you was not so I would have told you you believe in God believe also in me you believe in a God that you've never seen believe in me when I am unseen and he said I'm coming back and there's an individual place just like there were cubicles in the father's house on earth for the priests when they were fulfilling their course he said there's a place for you in heaven beloved each one of us has a place in heaven the Lord didn't go to to start building something as sometimes you some seem to have the idea he said in my father's house are many mansions they were there when he spoke those words when he was here on the earth already places of abode in the father's house but he said I go to prepare a place for you how did he do that some would bring Calvary in but I just would take it he's speaking about going home to heaven a man in the glory a man in the uncreated sphere never happened before and the Lord said I'm going and he said there's a place for you in the father's house I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also my what a shepherd we have I'm certainly so thankful this morning I do we can say the Lord is my shepherd provides for all our needs what care he has and you could go into Old Testament scriptures and see how he carries the lambs the little sheep those that haven't been saved too long perhaps and then the old sheep and they are with young the older sheep takes care of all the flock may the Lord help us to appreciate it and we just conclude by just quoting the first part of the psalm the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want I shall be praying our father we thank thee for these beautiful words that have been retained for us in thy word of our blessed Lord give us a greater appreciation of him what a wonderful thing to be the sheep of his pasture so we just look to thee and grant that we might have a real occupation with him in our lives day by day and especially as we gather together shortly to remember him meanwhile we thank thee for refreshment has been provided and we do acknowledge that it comes from thee and give thee thanks in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ amen